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Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Anniversary Vacation Time

Last weekend S and I went on a mini-vacation to St
Louis!For Christmas last year S
bought me tickets to see “Memphis” and very cleverly timed the trip so it
coincided with our anniversary and so this was a highly anticipated
adventure.We drove down on Friday,
stopping in Burlington so my parents could babysit Fleshy.Then we drove down on Hwy 61.If you haven’t taken this route lately you’ll
be surprised at how quickly it moves now! Even with a pit stop the drive from B-town to
St Louis was less than 3.5 hours!

We stayed at the Mayfair, which is right downtown.We were able to get off the highway just as
the traffic was slowing down which was perfect.At the hotel, they had some trouble finding our reservation.I guess that because we booked through a
third party, Orbitz, the reservation didn’t upload into their system.After maybe a 5 minute search they found it,
and because we were inconvenienced they gave us a free upgrade to a suite!YAY!The room was nice, if a bit old school.There was a sitting room, bedroom w/ 2nd TV, and then a large
bathroom/closet area.There was no
fridge, and no towel bar for used towels.Not huge deals, but I’m more than happy to save a hotel on its laundry
fund if I can hang my towel up.The bed
was super comfy – and the comforter was the lightweight washable type which
made me happy.

That night we went out to explore downtown.S had googled the area and made a short list
of restaurants in the area with food that seems yummy.We ate at Caleco’s and had some yummy pizza.It was a thin crust and you could choose any
toppings for $.50 each.We chose shrimp,
onion, and olives and it was delicious!S sampled a local beer that was on tap . .. you’ll have to ask him which
one.I know that the 1st one
was a bit flat, but then they switched to a new keg and he seemed to enjoy the
2nd one more.(Beer tasting
still isn’t my forte, so if this is something you want more info on – again you’ll
need to ask him.)After dinner we walked
down to Busch stadium to try and get some cheap tickets to the game.The scalpers down there mean business though
and although we tried we didn’t have any luck.

Saturday we went to Forest Park.This was a short maybe 10 minute drive.We walked through the park, purveyed some of
the local graduation ceremonies going on and finally made it to the zoo.(Those dang ceremonies sure made it a long
walk!)St. Louis zoo is FREE, with the
option to buy passes for the train and certain special shows.It’s large enough that the two of us spent at
least 3 hours walking around, and we still hadn’t seen it all, so I would
definitely recommend it if you are in the area!We had a great time – the reptile house there is fantastic.Spencer spent forever watching the
Gorillas.And the penguins put on a swim
show just for us!

After a while walking around though we got hungry so we left
and went to The Field House.Seems like
everywhere you go there’s a Field house – right?It is just what you would expect, a sports
bar with greasy food.We had polenta
fries for an appetizer and they were amazing.They actually convinced us to stay and eat, as we had planned on just
getting a drink and then going to the Italian place across the street
initially.At any rate the entrée’s were
good, I had smothered chicken, and S had a burger with bleu cheese, jalepeno’s,
onion, and a caper sauce.They are big
on choosing your topping because it was just like the pizza the night
before.There was a base price for the
burger, and then you chose the toppings.S enjoyed the Stupid Jerk drink he had.And I enjoyed my Stella’s.(Ok,
his drink wasn’t really called Stupid Jerk, but it was something like
that.Maybe Arrogant Jerk?Again ask him for the beer details.Maybe I’ll just make him do a beer update!)

After dinner we went back to the room to get ready for our
date.I had a new pretty party dress for
the occasion, and I will call it a hit, because 2 random people at the show
came over and told me they liked it!“Memphis”
played at the Fabulous Fox Theatre, and it was a very good show.I laughed, I cried, and I wanted to sing
along.What more should a musical
do?The people behind us were from the
deep south, and I don’t know if they just don’t get out much or what but they
thought the theatre was just so beautiful – and the ceiling decoration was “just
like a disco ball.”S and I found the
whole conversation hilarious.

Sunday we just headed home.It was Mother’s day, and we wanted to spend some time with each of our
mom’s on our way.So we stopped at
B-town and saw my folks.Fleshy was
happy to see us.He didn’t like having
to sleep in his room, he likes sleeping on beds, or cushions, or at least a
folded towel.He didn’t like the solitude
of sleeping in the dining room all alone either.After seeing my folks it was on to see
Spencer’s mum.She had made the most
delicious enchiladas!They were
amazing!We saw his sister and her kids
for a quick visit too.So it ended up
being a very full day!

Who am I kidding – it was a very full and wonderful
weekend.S made every moment
entertaining, which is one of the things I love best about him.I can’t wait to see what the next adventure
with him will be!